To change or not to change

[jabermanuk]

Hi all,
new to planted tanks, having said that I've being keeping marines for 5 years. Anyway I've a river reef 48 ltr
tank which I've planted up, being a bit short of cash i invested in a hang on filter 500ltrs ph £10.99 and set of leds
5050sms £16.99 and fluval nano co2 system £20.00.
It's all going well I think its been running about a month, my question is I was rooting around my attic and found 1 205 fluval external filter (680ltrs ph0 and all pond soulitons 1000ef external filter (1000 ltrs ph). would you change the hang on filter to external if so which one?
thanks in advance
Wayne

my 180 marine

 

[Sacha]

Yes. Use the APS.

 

[ajm83]

You might find that in reality the Fluval is more powerful than the APS. I have one of those APS 1000 models and I really doubt their LPH numbers.

Even after a cleaning it just doesn't move a lot of water. In theory it should be almost the same as my Fluval 306 (1150 LPH) but actually the fluval jets water out of its spray bar like a hose, but the water just trickles out of the APS 1000 with almost no pressure.

 

[Sacha]

That's because of the number of holes in the spray bar.
Use your Fluval spray bar with the APS filter and you will see that the APS flow is comparable to the Fluval.

Many people complain about the lph of the APS. In reality, this is just due to the fact that the APS spray bars have so many holes.

 

[ajm83]

That's because of the number of holes in the spray bar.
Use your Fluval spray bar with the APS filter and you will see that the APS flow is comparable to the Fluval.

Many people complain about the lph of the APS. In reality, this is just due to the fact that the APS spray bars have so many holes.

It does have more holes in the spraybar, but that's not the only reason. The LPH really is over rated on them (IMHO of course).

Apologies in advance for the disgusting tank* but here a pic of mine. It's about a month old. Previous one it replaced was the same.
As you can see, even with the spray bar removed the output is a bit limp:

Also, this is it with the floss removed and replaced with APS blue sponge in the bottom tray only. Even slower with floss in each (which is the setup it ships with).


* It is a tank in my office which has been neglected for some years and I'm gradually bringing back to health.


Edit: I will try a grab a pic of the fluval tonight for comparison.

 

[roadmaster]

Dirty filter material,dirty hoses, reduce flow also.
Much depends on what is being filtered and frequency of filter maint.
I have some messy fish + soil based substrates, and if filter material is not cleaned each month,the flow is affected considerably.
(ie) two eheim 2217's on 300 litre low tech.
Would be surprised how dirty hoses,impeller,media affect's the flow,.

 

[Sonsey]

Unless you're unhappy in some way with the hang on back filter (noise,looks,performance) then I'd leave it as it is, as like you said everything seems to be going well.

You could always use the pumps you found on another tank